It Came From the Crater!
by J.L. Stone
Summary: Diana, Martin, and Java receive a mission from the center to investigate mysterious events. However, MOM feels that the mission is too dangerous for the team, and sends them back home . . . but not for long.


_**TITLE: It Came From the Crater!**_

_**AUTHOR: J.L. Stone**_

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Martin Mystery, it is under the copyright of Marathon Entertainment, Darkhorse Comic Corporation, and Alfredo Castelli._**

_**SUMMARY: Diana, Martin, and Java receive a mission from the center to go to Casper, Wyoming to investigate mysterious and erratic events. However, MOM feels that the mission is too dangerous for the team, and sends them back home . . . but not for long.**_

**It Came From the Crater**

**Chapter 1**

**  
**By J.L. Stone

Carl Douglas locked the door to the ski resort for, although it was after-hours, a janitor had to work late no matter what. Sophie Fritz, the other custodian had left not but ten minutes before he—she was always faster with her round, however, her work tended to be less thorough which was why it was he whose picture had dominated the employee of the month wall for the last year and a half. With that in mind, Carl pocketed his set of keys, and turned to go to his car.

And the scream that followed made his blood run cold.

Without a second thought, Carl froze at the door, not moving. His ears perked for any other sounds, but there was silence. After a bit, he managed to calm himself down—after all, he was a logical man, and there was nothing that couldn't be explained through a little investigation: So, he pulled from his pocket the pen light that his wife had bought him last year because he had a habit of dropping his keys in the dark, and well, one can guess how hard it could be to find them without a light.

After a quick sweep of the parking lot, Carl found that Sophie's car was still there. He checked the front seat and found nothing, not even a sign she had been there. This was odd—Sophie had already left. His brow furrowed, green eyes probing the darkness. He started toward the forest that stretched past the parking lot. That was where the scream had come from. Maybe someone was in trouble. The thought to go back inside and phone the police glanced his thoughts, but he shook it off. He would investigate some more before he took such desperate measures. Perhaps someone had just fallen down . . . or . . . or . . .

The scream rang out again, loud and clear, closer this time. As Carl reached the forest's edge, he swiveled. Was it his imagination or had the sound . . . gotten closer. It was . . . behind him now? No, that wasn't possible—well, at least that's what he told himself. Carl turned back to the forest and there he saw, glaring out at him from between the knobby, twisted tree trunks, two acid-green eyes, each accented by a tiny, yellow pupil. Carl took a step back, his pen light fell to the ground, and he broke into a sprint.

And the scream that followed was his.

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"C'mon Jav! I'm starvin'!" Martin grabbed at the burrito that Java held so dear as they sat on an outside bench. The grumbling of his stomach joined the gentle tinkling of the fountain outside of Torrington Academy. Diana, meanwhile, came from the main hall and crossed her arms. Seeing the scene before her, she walked to the two with a smug smile planted on her pink lips.

"Martin!" She smirked, bending to look at him. "What's wrong? You look famished?"

The blonde's stomach gave a mighty rumble, and he clutched to his gut with a glare that settled on the burrito, which was being consumed with great delight by his enormous, caveman companion.

"Yeah . . . I'm starved!" He whined, his face going blue. Diana's laugh echoed across the campus.

"Maybe you should've thought about that _before _you bet on your midterm!" Diana flashed her own test, which housed (in the top right corner) a bright, red A+ in marker. She waved it about in her stepbrother's face, doing a kind of cha-cha victory dance. Java finished the burrito and clapped for her as she put it away in her backpack, receiving, also, a loathing glower from Martin.

"The deal was . . ." Diana began matter-of-factly, "that if you _failed_, you weren't aloud to eat for a _whole _day! And those weren't _my _terms Mr. Cram!"

"I didn't cram!" Martin gave her a defiant look, crossing his arms. "I just . . . didn't study until last night!"

Java gave him a sweet smile: "Martin cram."

The blonde opened his mouth and was about to protest, when a loud, familiar beeping broke him shortly from his anger.

"The Center!" Diana exclaimed, she seemed overly happy, but, then, it _was _a Diana who had just gotten an A+ on her midterm. Martin looked around the courtyard and saw Java heading toward the bushes that lined the wall of Torrington. He parted the branches, and there, between them, there was a blue, white-rimmed door there. Diana was the first to jump in, followed by Martin, and lastly, Java.

The laser roved over them and simultaneously spouted their names: "Martin Mystery, clear. Diana Lombard, clear. Java the Caveman, clear."

Billy, then, made his appearance, as he ritualistically did when they were called by the center. The little, floating, green alien smiled with his huge eyes alight: "Hi guys!"

In unison, they all replied: "Hi Billy!" Except, Martin wasn't so keen on sounding cheerful. Billy cocked his head and gazed at his blonde-haired friend.

"Hey Martin . . . what's wrong?"

Martin's twitching eye and vein on brow did nothing to help his image at the moment. His stomach gave a loud, angry growl: "I'm hungry!" He waved his arms around. "Diana made me swear that if I didn't pass my midterm I had to starve myself all day!"

Diana then chimed in with: "I didn't _make _you do anything, _Martin_! You're the one who didn't study!"

"I studied!" Martin argued, crossing his arms across his chest. His gut gave another wrenching growl and his face wavered. Billy smiled exasperatedly.

"I take it you failed?"

Martin did not answer his friend as they stepped into the elevator; he just shot him an angry look.

The doors to M.O.M.'s office slid open gently, and the team was met by a gentle, red glow. Before them, M.O.M sat at her desk, toying with a canister of light. From it, it emanated a crimson radiance. Martin's hunger temporarily left him as his curiosity peaked, and he rushed over to her desk: "Hey M.O.M, whatcha doin'?"  
M.O.M looked up with goggled eyes. She put the canister down, and the tool she had been using to try to pry the lid off.

"This is an Astrian artifact that was recovered on an expedition last month when a team of our archaeologists were excavating in Egypt. If we open this canister, the light gem within it could help us decode some of the unknown hieroglyphics on the spaceship it was found aboard."

"Can I h—"

"NO!" M.O.M yelled at Martin before he even finished his sentence. She set the canister aside and her face went suddenly very serious. "Today, you will be going to Casper, Wyoming to investigate some strange, erratic occurrences that have been happening in the local area of a ski resort on Casper Mountain. The locals will be able to tell you everything. I'd like you to start with Mr. Carl Douglas. He was . . ." she raised a brow, "attacked." She hit a button on her desk and a blue, white-rimmed door across the room opened up. Without a backward glance, the team filed through.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"There was this scream . . ." Carl was clearly in a state of shock; Martin could see it alive on his face. The red-haired janitor sat down in his home upon a wooden chair. He was pale and shaky, sweat beading on his face. Martin leaned against the back door, listening intently as Diana questioned him, and Java searched the place for clues.

"Then what happened?" Diana asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, you can tell us. We're here to help. . ."

"I went to investigate where the scream had come from, and th-that's when I noticed that Sophie's car was still in the lot . . ." he rested his head in his hands and his shoulders shook violently. "I went into the woods and there was this . . . thing . . ."

"Thing?" Diana looked to Martin, who shrugged. Then, Java called out from the living room. In his hand, there was a long, shredded, green scarf.

"Java find something!"

Martin rushed into the living room, followed closely by Carl and Diana. He took it from his friend and examined it. The thing looked as if it had been run through a garbage disposal.

"What's this?" Martin asked Carl, his brow furrowed. He still wasn't in the best of moods, mostly because his stomach was still nagging at him, but also because he had flunked his midterm.

"Th-that was on the creature . . ." Carl looked distant, "I dunno why it had it. It belongs to Sophie . . ." he shuddered as if cold.

"What did the monster look like, Carl?" Diana asked. The janitor sat down in an armchair.

"It was big and had these terrible . . . green eyes. And the way it screamed . . ." he shuddered again, "this is gonna sound crazy but it almost sounded . . . human."

Diana shook her head, "No, that doesn't sound crazy." She turned to Martin. "You got any ideas?"

Martin squinted at her with an angry look and rubbed his chin, pretending to think: "Gee, I don't know. It's hard to hear myself think with my stomach _growling_!"

"Sophie's house . . ." Java offered. Diana perked up at this, and she nodded with a smile.

"You're a genius, Java! We'll go to Sophie's house. If the monster had Sophie's scarf, then maybe she'll know something about all of this!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Diana's hand went up for what seemed to be the hundredth time, and knocked on 147 Ambigaru Drive. However, at her rapping, there came only one reply. And that was silence. Without thinking, she tried the knob and it twisted with ease, the door creaking open. Diana stood back and blinked with surprise.

"Huh? It's unlocked!" She glared: "Who leaves their door unlocked after dark?"

The three proceeded quietly into the darkened front hall. Martin, meanwhile, looked to his U-Watch and pressed a button. An electronic voice chimed: "U-Watch activated: Alpha Goggles selected." And suddenly, there was light.

"Sophie!" Diana called out as they came through the front hall into the living room. It was trashed. The couch turned over onto its back, parts of the wallpaper was in shambles. Martin, however, went straight for the kitchen. He looked around, opening the cabinet. He blinked at how empty they were. He then passed to the refrigerator. Opening it, a bright light washed the kitchen in a gentle but sufficient glow. To his surprise, the frig was completely wiped clean—as was the freezer.

"Wow!" He said as he joined the others in the living room. Diana looked at him. "Either Sophie hasn't been to the store in a while, or she had a _major _case of the munchies!"

Diana blinked, "What?" She asked, confused. Martin pointed his thumb back to the kitchen where, due to her curiosity, Diana made her way. She flung the fridge open, and the freezer simultaneously. She went the cabinet and was about to comment on how empty they, were when something in the far bedroom, which led from the living room, moved. The scuffling sound grew louder as Martin and Java stood poised as statues, wide-eyed. A growl, like an angry dog issued from within.

"Java not like this, Martin!" Said the caveman, and he took a wide step back. This motion was all it took to trigger movement from the creature in the bedroom. A huge, black shape rushed forward and passed right by Martin, going straight for Java, one massive arm extended. Java clenched his teeth as the thing hit him, tackling the caveman to the floor.

"Java!" Diana screamed, but Martin was already on it. He activated the U-Watch and selected the turbo-bungee; it went out, coiling around the creature's thick, muscled trunk. He pulled on the cord, his face going red. The creature strained against the cord, spitting a stream of viscous, blue-black slime, which hit Java full in the face. The caveman went unsteady, and wavered, then, passed out. The substance, meanwhile, leaked down his throat and disappeared. Diana rushed over and tried to drag Java away from the monster that was desperately trying to free itself from the bungee, which it did, after much deliberation. The cord snapped, recoiling it hit Martin in the head, and the beast rushed for the window, and disappeared into the blackness of the night.

Moments later, Java came to. He shook his head, trying to shake the dizziness from him: "Ooooh," he groaned, "Java's head hurt."

"Yeah," Diana patted him on the shoulder, and then lent him a hand to help him up. "You got hit on the head pretty hard."

Java nodded. Martin, meanwhile, rushed to the window and was looking around wildly. He flailed his arms, taking a step back from the window, he surveyed the night sky and scratched his head.

"Hmm. Where'd it go?"

"I dunno," Diana uttered, "but something tells me that we need to find it, and fast."

"Nope!"

They all jumped in unison. Billy appeared from within one of the cabinets, rubbing the back of his neck at the fright he had caused between his good friends. The little green alien floated across the expanse of room to Martin.

"M.O.M. wants you to go back to Torrington." Billy scratched the back of his head, awaiting the protest that would come. And they did come.

"What!" Martin hopped up and down, like a ten-year-old. "B-but . . . didn't you just see that thing that attacked Java! This is huge! It could very well be the world's first half-human half-lizard the world has ever seen!"

Diana snorted through her nose, "Half-human half-lizard? Please! It looks like the hunger has finally gotten to your brain!"

Angry sparks passed between them before Billy broke in with: "Look, M.O.M. wants you guys to go back home because . . . well, she thinks this situation is too dangerous for you guys. People have been _killed _around her, Martin! She's classifying this as a level 5 case!"

"Level 5!" Martin's face was shining with delight. "Can you imagine if I caught this thing? I'd be the youngest agent _ever _to catch a level 5 threat!"

There was a loud growl from the back of the room, and for one horrifying moment, Martin thought the creature had returned, but, upon closer inspection, Java stood at the mouth to the front hall, his hand on his belly.

"Java hungry. . ." he uttered. Diana laughed at this and looked to Billy.

"Tell M.O.M. that we're going to go home—"

"But if you guys need help," Martin cut in, "just give us a beep!"

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"Happy to be able to _eat_ again, Martin?" Diana asked as she sat her tray down with Martin the following morning at breakfast. Martin shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth and chewed, savoring each flakey morsel as it hit his tongue. Meanwhile, across the table, Java was also enjoying an enormous breakfast of cereal, an apple, two oranges, and a banana. Diana looked to him and blinked.

"Java . . . you hungry too?"

The caveman answered with another heaping spoonful of cereal, and chewed it ravenously. When he had finished, he picked the bowl up, and drank down the milk within. Martin was too busy in his own engorgement to notice, but Diana did. However, she did not say anything.

Martin, after finishing breakfast stood up and stretched, patting his gut as he did so. "Weeeeell," he sighed, "enjoy your breakfast guys, I'm off to chemistry!" His eyes sparkled oddly, as he picked up his tray and walked away. Diana thought that it was strange that he was acting so happy to go to chemistry. It was his least favorite subject. She would have to investigate that later.

A deep belch from across the table drew Diana's attention. Java looked up at her, his empty tray before him. She blinked as he pointed to her banana.

"Diana gonna eat that?"

She shook her head and blinked once more with surprise, passing the fruit to Java.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

M.O.M. and her team of one-hundred or so agents had been scouring the area of Casper Mountain for hours now, and still . . . there was no sign of the beast. She sighed and stepped back from the tree she was examining. There, deeply scratched into the bark, there were some erratic claw marks—just some evidence that she could chalk-up as useless. She had scanned it for a bio-reading, but they were so old that nothing remained. As she placed a hand to her brow, Billy floated up from behind her, in hands, there was a long, thin tube of blue-black slime.

"M.O.M.! I found something!"

The woman clad in white turned on her heel. Finally! She thought. Something to go on! M.O.M. took the vial from her green companion and examined it closely. It looked like your average, run-of-the-mill slime, but if there was one thing she had learned in this business, it was that something always lay beneath the surface.

"Take it back to the lab for analysis, Billy."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the library, later, Diana was surprised to see Martin with his nose buried in a chemistry book. He seemed to be concentrating hard enough to earn him _some _credit. At the thought of Martin studying, Diana couldn't help but snigger. It was then that she heard the familiar, deep tone that she had learned to recognize as . . .

"Java confused . . ." the caveman uttered.

Diana, not looking away from Martin, nodded in agreement, "Me too. It's like his brain pulled a total one-eighty."

"No . . ." Java replied, "Java's shirt not fit."

Diana craned her head to see what it was he was talking about. She had to blink to see Java struggling to get into one of his regular orange shirts. She looked down, instinctively, and saw that he was also wearing a pair of black, draw-string warm-ups. She licked her lips and started to say something when Java's stomach gave a loud, furious gurgle. The caveman put one hand to his hair-covered gut and made a strange face.

"Java hungry."

"You just ate lunch!" Diana waved her arms around, what was going on? Martin wasn't being Martin (not that it was an entirely bad thing) and Java was just being . . . weird. She hoped the center would call back soon with some news. If she didn't hear from someone who _wasn't _completely crazy, she would probably go nuts herself!

**End Part 1**


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